Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal on Thursday said tariffs need to go up amid "tremendous stress" in the telecom sector, and Airtel will not hesitate to raise prices, but it will not do so unilaterally. The comments by the telecom czar came at a time when Airtel's rival Vodafone Idea has approached the government for a one-year moratorium on payment of spectrum instalment of over Rs 8,200 crore - due in April 2022. Cash-strapped VIL has told the telecom department that while it is working on raising new funding for the last six months, "investors are not willing to invest in the company because they believe that unless there is a significant improvement in consumer tariffs, the health of the industry will not recover and they will incur a loss on their investment".
Mike Duke (left), senior vice president, Wal-Mart, and Sunil Bharti Mittal, president CII and chairman & group CEO, Bharti Enterprises, pose for a photo during the US-India Business Council luncheon in Washington, DC on Tuesday.
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The South West District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum said that Tara Chand, a Delhi-based businessman, was entitled to three domestic trips instead of one as contended by Airtel since he had bought the connections in the names of three directors of his firm.
Airtel acquired African telecom operator Zain in 2010 for $10.7 billion.
India's second-largest telecom service provider Bharti Airtel will call in March 2026 the final tranche of about Rs 15,741 crore from its 2021 rights issue of Rs 21,000 crore, proceeds from which will be used towards retiring majority of non-government-related debt.
The "huge mountain of debt" in developed economies and the risk of a possible unravelling is a matter of concern for India, Union Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting, Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday, pointing to the recent spike in Japanese bond yields.
The telecom industry, he said, is vital to the nation and the digital agenda of the government.
The 2025 contraction marks the steepest decline in both the number of billionaire promoters and their aggregate wealth since 2012.
The chairman and group managing director of Bharti Enterprises, Sunil Bharti Mittal, was chosen the best Asian Telecom CEO
Supreme Court had on October 24 upheld government contention that non-core revenue in telecoms groups should be included in adjusted gross revenue. According to DoT's calculations, Bharti Airtel faces a liability of around Rs 42,000 crore after including licence fees and spectrum usage charges while Vodafone-Idea may have to pay about Rs 40,000 crore.
All three Bharti group companies outperformed in CY25 but the biggest gain came from Bharti Airtel, the flagship.
On Thursday, the SC will resume hearing on Mittal's plea challenging the court's summons.
Sunil Bharti Mittal-led conglomerate Bharti Enterprises and private equity firm Warburg Pincus will collectively acquire a 49 per cent stake in Haier Appliances India, the local unit of China's Shandong-based Haier group, for an undisclosed amount. The transaction, according to industry sources, values the company at about 15,000 crore.
Sunil Bharti Mittal may have made big bucks out of the mobile telephony revolution in India, but the man says it was a saga of struggle, fight and the "mother of all battles."
Mittal asked the Supreme Court to quash CBI court summons.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and group CEO of Bharti Enterprises and former president of the Confederation of Indian Industry, said on Tuesday that it was time for the United States to change its position towards India vis-a-vis Pakistan.
Mittal's salary in 2019-20 was Rs 26.97 crore, unchanged from the previous fiscal year. However the value of perquisites was Rs 99.8 lakh, down from Rs 1.87 crore a year back. His retirement benefits were unchanged at Rs 2.15 crore.
Mittal's total remuneration dipped marginally by 2.52 per cent.
Sunil Mittal's race up these rankings to No. 2 marks a triumph of core competence over diversification in India.
Airtel has informed the government and regulator Trai that it has approached Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea with a proposal for a joint initiative to unite the industry against rising telecom fraud and scams.
Bharti Airtel and Tata Group have terminated discussions for a merger of their direct-to-home (DTH) business, according to a Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) filing on Saturday.
Bharti Airtel on Monday reported a 168 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 3,593 crore for the September quarter, and the company unveiled top-level changes, including Gopal Vittal moving into the role of executive vice chairman on January 1, 2026. India's second-largest telco - that competes with Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea in the Indian telecom market - clocked quarterly revenues of Rs 41,473 crore, 12 per cent higher than the year-ago period, aided by strong momentum in India and growth in Africa.
Shares of Reliance Industries as well as Bharti Airtel began the trade on a positive note on Wednesday after the two firms announced their partnerships with Elon Musk's SpaceX for providing high-speed internet services in India. Bharti Airtel stock opened with a gain of 5.49 pc to hit a high of Rs 1,388.25 apiece on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Soon, it pared all gains and traded 0.77 per cent lower to Rs 1,650.10 per piece.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and managing director of Bharti Tele-Ventures, sold 3,13,005 shares on March 9 and 24,36,995 shares on March 10 of his holding in the company.
Kavin Bharti Mittal, son of Airtel's Sunil Mittal, speaks about why he came back to India from the UK, his new business venture, paying for mobile apps and the need for co-founder support.
Spectrum auction for mobile radiowaves services worth Rs 96,000 crore ended with bids worth about Rs 11,000 crore, according to sources. The government has put over 10,500 Mhz spectrum in eight frequency bands -- 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 2,500 MHz, 3,300 MHz and 26 GHz, valued at Rs 96,238 crore at base price, for auction.
The estimated costs of these weddings start from Rs 100 crore and go up to Rs 700 crore.
Top industrialists including Sunil Mittal, chairman, Bharti Airtel on Thursday called on Home Minister P Chidambaram.
As part of a plan to refinance debt and expand its upcoming constellation of satellites, French satellite major Eutelsat Communications will raise euro 1.35 billion, or $1.55 billion, through a reserved capital increase and a rights issue, the company announced on Friday. Bharti Enterprises' space venture, Bharti Space Ltd, will invest euro 31.4 million, or $36 million, in the capital raise.
Just as his father Sunil Mittal ignited a revolution in telecom in India, Kavin is trying to do so in a space that represents the rapid convergence of two industries-the internet and telecommunications.
Striking a different chord with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who prescribed a social charter for the industry, Confederation of Indian Industry's new president Sunil Mittal on Friday
The court, after going through the apex court's order on separate petitions filed by Mittal and Ruia, listed the matter on April 16 for further proceedings. The apex court will hear their pleas on April 15.
Coercion does not work. People will find ways to come around it. No one can legislate that industry cannot spend, or not be ostentatious, says Sunil Mittal.
The 68-year-old senior lawyer was earlier married to Meenakshi (his first wife) and Caroline Brossard later in 2020.
He feels that the reserve price set by the government for the 2G spectrum auction was very high.
The combined wealth of India's dollar billionaires is now equivalent to 33.81 per cent of India's nominal GDP.
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